The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-08-18

VII UP Mc!c PiGu eu'SS o"66"bS N',
one on top of another, like child's card
house after he had swept it with his
hand. Then came six day coaches.
They were telescoped as cars never were
before, and three of them were pressed
into just space enough for one. The
second car had mounted off its trucks,
crashed through the car ahead of it,
crushing the wood aside like tinder, and
lay there, resting on top of the seats,
while every passenger in the front car
was laying
DEAD AND DYING
underneath. Out of. that car but four
people came alive. On top of the second
car lay the third, and although the latter
did not cover its bearer as completely as
the one beneath its bottom was smeared
with the blood of its victims. The other
three cars we're not so badly crushed, but
were broken and twisted in every con-
ceivable way, and every crushed timber
and beam represented a.crushed human
fame and broken bone. Instantly the
air was filled with the cries of the wound
ed and the shrieks Of those about to die.
Groans of men and screams Of women
added to make an appalling sound, and
above all could be heard the agonizing
CRIES, OF LITTLE CHILDREN,
as in. some instances they lay pinned
beside their dead parents. There WAS
another terrible danger yet to be met.
The bridge was still burning, and the
cars were laying on and around the
fercely burning embers. Everywhere in
the wreck were wounded and unhurt
women and children, whose lives could
be saved if they. could be gotten out, but
whose death in a most horrible form was
certain if the twisted wood of the broken
cars caught. And to sight The fire there
was
saH:s.5 NOT A DROP OF WATER,
and only some fifty able.bodied men who
still had presence of mind and nerve
enough for duty. The only lig hit was
that of the burning bridge, and with so
much of ita aid fifty men went to work to
fight the aames. For four hours they
fought like 6ends, and for four hours vic
tory hung in the balance. Earth was
the only weapon with which the fire
could be fought, and SO an attempt was
made to smother it. There was no pick
or shovel to dig it up, and no barrows to
carry it, and SO desperate were they that
they dug, their fingers into the earth,
which the.long drought had baked
almost as hard as stone, and heaped the
precious handfuls thus hardly won upon
the - -
ENCRoACHING FLAMES,
and with this esrthwork, built handful
by handful, kept back the foe. While
this was going on, other brave men crept
under the wrecked cars beneath the fire
and wooden bars which held as prisoners
80 many precious lives. and with pieces
of boards, and sometimes their hands,
beat back the flames when they flashed
up along de the seats. An unfortunate
wretch who was pinned down BY a heavy
beam looked on helplessly while it
seemed as if his death by fire was certain.
And while the fight was thus going on,
the ears of the workers we're filled with
the. groans of dying men, the anguished
entreaties of those whose death seemed
certain unless the terrible blaze could be
extinguished, and the cries of those too
badly hurt 10 care in what manner death
were brought about, so it only would be
quick. So they dug up the earth with
their own hands, reckless of the blood
streaming out from their broken finger
nails, and heaping it up in little mounds,
while all the time came
HEARTRENDING CRIES,
"For Gods sake, don't let us burn to
death !" But finally the victory was
won; the fire was out after four boars OF
endeavor, and as its last sparks died
away the light came up in the east to
take their place and the dawn came up
on scene of fhorror.
While the fight had been going on men
had been dying, and there were not so
many wounded to take out as there had
been four hours before. But in the
meantime the country had been aroused.
Help had come from Chattsworth, Forest
aud Piper cities, and as the dead were
laid reyerently alongside of each other
out in a cornfeld, there were ready
hands to take them into Chattsworth,
while some of the wounded were carried
to Piper City. One hundred and eigh.
teen was the
AwFUl POLL OF THE DEAD,
while the wounded number four times
that many. The full tale of the dead
cannot, however, be told yet for days.
Chattswor:h was turned into morgue
to day. The town hall, engine house
and depot were all full Of dead bodies,
while every house 10 the little village has
its quota of wounded. There were over
100 corpses laying in extemporized dead
houses, and every man and woman was
turned into an amateur but Jealous
nurse. Over in lumber yard the noise
of hammers and saws rang out in the air,
and busy carpenters were making rough
cofins to carry to their homes the dead
bodies of the excursionists who, twelve
hours before, had left their homes, full of
pleasureable expectation of the enjoy.
ment they were going to have during the
vacation which had begun.
PROMPT ASSISTANCE RENDERED.
When news of the disaster was flst
flashed over the wires prompt aid was at
once sent. DR.. Steel, Chief Surgeon of